


Quiet

by Winterling42



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Minor Character(s), Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:39:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19233952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: Luc goes on adventures! With Edith, who he supposes he likes, and this strange old man and his pet hummingbird...





	1. Chapter 1

Shakäste, unlike some adventurers he knew, was pretty good at staying quiet. Quiet didn’t just mean stealthy, though he’d been known to do some breaking and entering when the situation called for it. Quiet meant staying out of sight, it meant saving people without reward and moving on quickly. Before the Crownsguard took interest. A blind beggar man drew less interest than a blessed holy man and his magical familiar.

Considering current tensions within the Empire, and the fact that his faith was unwelcome, Shakäste felt it was better to keep that low profile going. He arrived outside of Alfield nine days after he’d gotten the Sending from Jester, taking his time on the back roads and stopping to rest whenever he or the Duchess saw patrols of the Righteous Brand go by. Large troop movements were uncommon, now that they’d gathered to the East, but smaller bands of new recruits headed to Bladegarden every day, and none of them would be happy to see him.

Neither would Bryce, who Shakäste was _pretty_ sure was a Crownsguard. He wouldn’t recognize them on sight, but Alfield was a small town, and Shakäste had spent time lying low here before. He settled in under the branches of an ancient oak tree and sent the Duchess in to find the boy. Luke. Who was with a woman named Edith, who was being looked after by this Bryce.

The Duchess found Bryce first. She took a perch on the sign outside the jail just as the dark was starting to rise, giving him a fine view of the progress Alfield was making towards rebuliding. Without her wings buzzing, Anastasia could hear clearly when a tall half-elf in the armor of a Crownsguard set off home to a chorus of farewells to Bryce. She followed, flitting from wall to wall, once buzzing past close enough that Bryce turned to look in her direction. Shakäste caught a good look at a young face, eyes that had seen more than most, and the speed with which the Crownsguard went for their sword. After that, the Duchess kept her distance.

Bryce fetched up at a small house not far from the jail, already tugging at the latches for their armor as they knocked. The door was answered by an old woman in a worn dress, her shoulders bowed more by recent events than by her years. Shakäste knew the difference, these days. “Good to see you, Sir, your Honor,” she said, gesturing Bryce inside. “I’ve got some stew on, if you like.”

“Please, just call me Bryce,” the half-elf said, but with no conviction that they would actually be listened to. “I would love some stew.”

From her perch amidst the thatch on the roof, the Duchess chirped to herself and ruffled her wings. Location verified. Shakäste was too far away to send her new instructions, so after a moment she flitted back towards the oak tree.


	2. Chapter 2

Luc did not want to play outside. He hadn’t wanted to leave Felderwin, he hadn’t wanted to leave his  _ house _ , he hadn’t wanted to leave his  _ things _ . But Ms. Edith had said that Momma wanted him to, and then the men in the armor had told him they were ordering him to. And you had to do what soldiers told you to, even if Luc wasn’t sure his Momma would really have let them order him around. He was still not sure if his Momma was real, even if Edith seemed to think so. Grown-ups thought a lot of things were real that weren’t, like calendars. And oceans. And sometimes grown-ups thought things that were  _ definitely real _ weren’t there. Like monsters.

Luc sat on the floor of a stranger’s house and glared at Edith, his arms wrapped around his knees. Outside was where the bad things were, even if they weren’t there  _ right now _ . They would be, later. And Edith was the only person he knew in this whole city, which was much bigger and scarier than Felderwin. Edith sighed down at him and went back to her cleaning, which was what she’d done for the past three mornings. After a moment, Luc deemed it safe enough to uncurl from his ball and go back into the sleeping room. He pulled his wooden horse Bucephalus from under the nest of blankets he was using as a bed and, after a quick look behind to make sure Edith wasn’t watching, climbed up on her bed to push open the shutters. 

Alfield was busy waking up, and this window looked out into the back yards of several neighboring houses. Standing at his full height, Luc was just tall enough to peek over the sill without making himself known. He and Bucephalus watched the human lady to their left pick strawberries from the garden. There was a boy who lived next door on their other side, feeding chickens, but he was very tall (for a boy) and green and strange. Luc didn’t know his name. “Do you think we should check for monsters out the other windows?” Luc whispered to Bucephalus. 

And then a hummingbird landed on his window sill. Luc fell back onto the bed at once, stifling his scream. It’s only a  _ bird _ , he wasn’t scared of  _ birds _ . He wasn’t a coward like those soldiers were talking about once. (They weren’t talking about him, they were talking about other soldiers who ran away from Felderwin instead of helping fight the monsters. But Luc had run away to Edith’s house instead of helping his Daddy, and now Daddy was gone and Momma was gone and  _ Luc _ was gone and what if they came back to his house because the Blue Lady had said they were okay and then he  _ wasn’t there  _ and–)

The hummingbird flew into the house and landed on Edith’s bed. Luc remembered to breathe by sucking in a shocked gasp of air, watching the hummingbird very closely. It was dark purple, almost black, with feathers that shimmered in the light. His Daddy had called that color something once...but Luc couldn’t remember what. The bird was tiny, like him. It had a long, thin beak that opened to make the tiniest peep he had ever heard in his life. When he tried to catch it, though, to go show Edith, the tiny bird darted away out the window. Luc sat back, deflated, watching the sky get bluer. 

He heard the humming, this time, before the bird reappeared on the window ledge almost like magic. It  _ peeped _ at him again, with it’s long beak tilted up for maximum volume. “H–Hi,” he said, and then looked around so Bucephalus could say hi too. He’d dropped the horse in his rush to catch a real living bird, but Bucephalus didn’t mind. He neighed politely in the bird’s direction, and then the bird  _ bowed back. _ Luc sat there staring with his mouth open. It had lifted one wing in a proper court bow, too. Or at least what Luc imagined a proper court bow would look like. 

This bird  _ must _ be magic. Even if Luc had never heard of magic birds being so  _ small _ before. “Are you secretly a person?” he asked. 

The tiny bird shook it’s head. It was so small, really, that he couldn’t see the difference between it’s head and it’s neck, but he could see the little thin beak wave from side to side. 

“Are you...a fairie?” Again the bird shook its head. But before Luc could ask it any more questions, it darted away into the house. “Wait!” Luc scrambled after it, almost losing Bucephalus in the process. “Birds don’t go in the house!” 

Three things happened then, so close together that they might as well have been simultaneous. The little black hummingbird landed on the knob of the front door, Luc arrived just below it, and a very polite but firm knock sounded from the other side of that exact door. Luc jumped at the knock, but the little bird only peeped at him again. Edith appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the skirt of her dress. “Who’s that, Luc?” she asked. Like he was supposed to be able to see through the wood to whoever was on the other side. 

When he looked back, the hummingbird had vanished, and there was only the door. And whatever was behind it. Luc backed up a few steps, just in case. After a moment, the knock came again, just as the little bird landed on his shoulder. Luc laughed to feel the tickle of its wings, shying away. Her peeping was much louder when it was happening right in his ear. 

“I’ll get it,” Edith sighed, after a moment. 

“No!” Luc forced himself to take one step towards the door. He wasn’t scared of a  _ door _ , was he? The magic bird chirred in an encouraging kind of way, and Luc found himself able to take another step. He had to reach to get to the doorknob; Bryce’s house was human-sized. Before he could remember that he really was afraid, Luc pulled the door open, his heart beating very quickly. 

It was only an old human man. Tall, though everyone was tall to Luc. He had dark black-brown skin, a wispy triangle of a beard, and a great cloud of white hair that glimmered gold in the morning sunlight. 

“Hello,” the old man said in a warm, smooth voice. “You must be Luc.” Luc might have been afraid of that, of a stranger knowing who he was, but the magic bird whistled something light and took off, circling the man’s head a few times before returning to hover a foot or so in front of Luc, just at eye level. 

“Scuse me,” Edith said, in the voice that meant I-might-have-to-be-polite-later-but-I-don’t -trust-you, “But who are you? Who d’you work for?” 

“Ah, and you must be Ms. Edith,” the human transferred his blank white stare to her instead. Luc didn’t  _ think _ he was blind–he’d seen Old Man Frederik wander down their street in Felderwin a couple of times, knocking against things with his cane and calling out, “Hello,” in his thin old-man voice. This person didn’t have a cane at all, even if his eyes did look a little like Old Man Frederik’s. 

“How do you know who we are?” Edith was holding on to that broom handle  _ awfully _ tightly, Luc thought. 

But the old man didn’t seem worried. He held up a hand, and the magic bird moved to sit right on his fingertips. “To answer your questions; my name’s Shakäste, I don’t work for anybody, and I know you because we have some...mutual friends. Do you mind if I come in?” 


	3. Chapter 3

“You must have us mistaken for someone else,” Edith said, a little faintly. She came to stand next to Luc in the doorway, looking down at the little old man. “Maybe you’re looking for Captain Feelid? They’re probably--”

“I’m sure Bryce is a good fellow, as their type go,” the old man--Shakäste--said firmly. The hummingbird darted away behind his shoulder and returned a moment later, perching on top of his cloud of hair. “But it really is you guys I’ve come to talk to.” He frowned and then, after a moment, nodded to himself with a quiet _ah_ of realization. “Nobody told you I’d be coming, did they?” 

“Certainly not.” Edith clutched her broom to her chest. She wasn’t really _worried_ about the old man--he was awfully frail-looking, for one thing, though the pet bird was a bit strange. She would have been far more concerned, really, but Luc wasn’t hiding behind her skirts the way he usually did even when Captain Feelid was home. Instead, the boy was standing on his own, looking up at the old beggar with something _almost_ resembling a smile. Shakäste smiled back, a much softer expression than she’d expected, and Edith felt her reservations crumbling. “Oh, why don’t you come sit down,” she said, as if irritated. But she kept glancing at Luc to see if he was okay. 

“That’s very kind of you, Miss,” Shakäste left his muddy boots by the door and padded into the kitchen like a civilized person, sitting unerringly in the empty chair with the bird still clutching his hair. Luc actually scrambled up into the chair next to him, standing on its seat so that he was almost eye level with the human. 

“Are you a wizard?” he asked, and then, before Edith could scold him, “Do you know where my Daddy is?”

“Oh, dear--” Edith started to explain that strange old men weren’t usually wizards, let alone know whether or not Yeza Brenatto was alive. But Shakäste smiled again, and the little bird buzzed over to sit on Luc’s shoulder, so there was certainly _something_ magical about the man. 

“I don’t know about your Daddy,” Shakäste said in a low, gentle voice that made Edith think he saw more than it appeared, “But maybe I know someone who can help us find out. What’d you say I ask her, huh?” 

Luc hesitated, then nodded deeply. Shakäste leaned back in the kitchen chair and closed his eyes. The bird had to hover for a moment to reposition itself, which it did without fuss. Edith had never heard of anyone having a pet hummingbird before, or even a hummingbird companion. But her instincts about magic were proven correct when Shakäste traced a few strange shapes in the air and they remained outlined in white light. After a second they faded, and he said to the air, “Jester, honey, I don’t mean to tell you your business. But it’s usually polite to let people know when they’re having company.” 

Faintly, as if from far away, a strangely accented voice shouted back. “--don’t get to choose when to answer! Hi Shakäste! We’re really kind of busy right now, is Luc okay? We should maybe Send something to--” and the voice cut off. Luc was staring wide-eyed at the vagrant, and Edith knew she wasn’t much better. It was one thing to know that Veth had joined up with that strange group, that Bryce had called the Mighty Nein. It was another thing entirely to see proof of that strangeness in a kitchen chair, blinking milk-white eyes back at Luc.

“That was the Blue Lady!” the little halfling blurted out, both hands wrapped tightly around his toy. “The one who was there with...” Luc’s voice faltered, faded away. He frowned instead of finishing his sentence, and Edith felt her heart twist. She had enough problems believing in Veth’s return, let alone understanding it. She couldn’t blame Luc for his caution, not with Yeza kidnapped. Or worse. 

Shakäste only nodded, like he understood. The bird buzzed as its perch shifted, and went to sit on the boy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry not to give y'all more warning,” he said. “Don’t suppose anyone asked what y’all thought of the plan to get to Nicodranas, either, did they?” 

“Nicodranas?” Edith clutched her broom a little tighter. _This_ was as far from Felderwin as she’d ever been. As well say they were going to one of the moons! Or to Xhorhas! Or...here her imagination failed her, and she eyed Shakäste’s calm expression with a mixture of suspicion and envy. 

“I thought not,” Shakäste sighed, but didn’t seem eager to elaborate. After an awkward few seconds of silence, he said, “You’d better go get that Bryce fellow.” At first Edith thought he was talking to Luc, then to her, surely. But it was the bird who lifted away and darted out the kitchen window.

“Are you cursed?” Luc asked, before the silence could set in again. “Like in the stories,” he added, hopefully. And Edith wasn’t going to scold him, when this was more words he’d spoken at one time since they’d left Felderwin weeks ago. She wished she knew what about this man set Luc so at ease, so she could replicate the feat. 

“No, not cursed.” Shakäste chuckled and leaned forward, so that he and Luc were almost eye to eye. “Just old. And I did a lot of living in those years. What about you, little man? You seen a lot of living yet?” The old man’s voice never lost its velvet softness, and if anything grew even gentler. Maybe that was why Luc only looked down at his wooden horse, and didn’t shrink away. After a thoughtful moment, he shook his head. 

“Well, maybe that’s not such a shame,” Shakäste said. “If you don’t want my help, Luc, just you say the word. I think our friend in blue said something about not being safe in the Empire?” his pale eyes flickered in Edith’s direction, and he let the question trail away. “She trusted me to help you stay safe. I understand if you need some more proof of that.” 

Not for the first time Edith wondered how the strange halfling couple down the road had turned into...whatever they were. A walking dead woman, looking for her lost husband. If she was telling it to anyone else, it would have sounded like a ghost story. But here was their son, who came up almost to her knee, and so desperately wanted his parents to be alright. 

He only shrugged at Shakäste’s attempted reassurance. At least that was more like what Luc had been doing to Bryce--and Edith, to a lesser extent--since the attack. And speaking of Bryce...

The captain of Alfield’s Crownsguard didn’t _quite_ slam open the door to their own house, but they did appear abruptly and with such noise that Luc squeaked something too quiet to be a scream. Bryce had their sword drawn, waving their free hand irritably at the frantic buzzing of Shakäste’s hummingbird. The old man hadn’t so much as blinked as Bryce barged in, though he did turn his blind eyes in the half-elf captain’s direction. 

“You’re...Shakäste?” Bryce asked, with a kind of deadly calm.

The old man nodded slowly, acknowledging both the question and the unspoken menace in it. “Jester tell you that she sent me?” 

Edith couldn’t quite manage to step into that conversation, but she did reach out one hand, beckoning Luc back towards her. The boy was only too happy to come, holding tight to her hand and skirt. 

“Just now, yes,” Bryce said drily. “I don’t suppose _you_ know who Veth Brenatto is?”

Shakäste only blinked and shook his head, which shouldn’t have disappointed Edith as much as it did. Bryce hadn’t known Veth either, though they’d figured out who she was traveling with soon enough. Bryce thought that Veth must have hired the Mighty Nein to rescue her husband, but Edith couldn’t make head nor tails of that story. Why hadn’t Veth come back? How was she alive? Where would she get the money to hire a bunch of adventurers, let alone send Edith off with _two hundred gold_? And it wasn’t even Veth who had asked Shakäste to come here, but some tiefling who hadn’t said a word in all three minutes Edith had spent with her. 

“Well, I should apologize for the blade,” Bryce took a step back, lowering but not sheathing their sword. “But you’ll forgive a little suspicion of those the Mighty Nein call friend.” 

“I wouldn’t blame you a bit,” Shakäste said, one gnarled hand wrapped tightly around the arm of his chair. “You never woulda met me if I had any say in it.” 

“That does not exactly inspire confidence,” Bryce said, then glanced at Edith. “I suppose we might as well discuss this now. What’s all this about Nicodranas?” 

 

From a shabby room at the still-under-construction Candleglow Inn, a broad-shouldered man snapped his fingers. Then, again. A great tawny owl appeared on his outstretched arm, swiveling it’s head to blink sulphur-yellow eyes at her master. “Well done, liebling,” he said, his voice a quiet roll like thunder. “We’ll send you out again tonight. No need for them to get suspicious--that little winged flea almost saw you.” 

The owl hooted, a little reproachfully. Her master sighed and tapped her beak gently with one knuckle. “We are here to observe the little halfling, not harm him. There are bigger pieces moving on the board now.” He sighed again, and the owl took off for a more stable perch on the bedpost. With another snap, the man dismissed her, then pulled a sheet of parchment closer to start writing another report.


	4. Chapter 4

Bryce and Edith had, reluctantly, agreed that Nicodranas was the best place for Luc, considering their hostess at the other end. Edith may not have heard of the Ruby of the Sea, but Bryce had at least an inkling who she was--and Shakäste had no trouble believing that that was where the Mighty Nein were sending them. 

Luc had been...harder to convince. Edith had tried just telling the boy where they were going, but Luc had set his jaw and crossed his arms and managed to stand _just_ outside of grabbing range. 

"No!" he said, a startlingly big voice coming out of a body less than two feet tall. "I'm not going! You can't make me!"

"Luc, child, we're just trying to keep you safe--" Edith reached out for him, and Luc was instantly off to the other room. The Duchess followed him under the bed, which he certainly noticed but didn't immediately react to. Through her, Shakäste could see the beginnings of a tantrum coming on, and he held out a hand to stop Edith in the doorway. 

"Let me try," he said. Very slowly, relying on memory while the Duchess was busy, he made his way into the bedroom and sat a safe distance away. "I think I understand where you're coming from, little man," he said, leaning back against the wall. "It's a mighty big place out there, isn't it?" 

Luc crept to the edge of the bed, glancing between the Duchess and Shakäste himself. He didn't say anything, but gave an all-mighty sniffle and nodded. 

"And no parents to say it's all okay," Shakäste continued, more quietly. He wasn't entirely surprised when Luc launched himself out from under the bed, already sobbing, and wrapped tiny halfling arms as far as they would go around Shakäste's chest. The Tempest cleric flicked his eyes instinctively in the Duchess's direction, then shrugged and patted Luc's back as the hummingbird came to rest on his shoulder. Sometimes it was best to let these things work themselves out. Edith hovered in the doorway for a while, before finally coming in and sitting on the bed. She leaned her elbows on her knees and watched the three of them, a small smile on her lined face saying she knew better than to try and stop the crying. 

Eventually, once Shakäste's cuirass was thoroughly wet and his one leg was starting to cramp, Luc sighed and got quiet. He curled up in the crook of Shakäste's arm, wiping tears and snot away. The Duchess flew down to perch on his head, clung to his hair so she could lean over and peep at him upside down. There was a thin, watery laugh from the halfling boy, and he held up a hand for the Duchess to perch on, which she did with a mental nudge from Shakäste. 

"Let me formally introduce you to the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, or as I like to call her, Stacy." Without any instructions, Anastasia swept her wings out in a beautiful bow for the boy, who laughed again, a little stronger. "She keeps me safe, out there in the wide world. Maybe, if you asked her nicely, she'd keep you safe too." 

Luc looked back at him, surprise and hope making his eyes wide. When Shakäste only nodded, Luc turned back to the hummingbird on his hand. "Can you stop monsters?" he asked the little bird, who nodded her long beak very seriously. "Oh," Luc said, and then a little louder he added, "Can you stop the monsters from getting me or...or my Mom and Daddy?" The Duchess peeped again, a little sadly, and looked back at Shakäste for guidance. 

The old cleric frowned back at her, then patted the boy's side. "It was your Mom who sent us to help, in a roundabout way," he said slowly. "So I think it's you she wants to protect most. If the folks I know are with her, she'll be plenty safe wherever she may be." 

"Okay," Luc seemed, if not satisfied with that answer, at least willing to accept it. He sighed. "Can you keep me safe, though, too?" he asked Stacy, and again she nodded her long curved beak. Luc settled back against the wall, and the Duchess flew up to perch again on Shakäste's shoulder. 

"Right," Edith said, sitting up straighter on the bed. "Are we ready to pack, now?" 

Luc nodded a very small nod, and Edith sighed. "Let's get going then, come on."


	5. Chapter 5

Luc went with Edith to buy the horse and cart. Mostly he was very small and the horses very big--he wanted to hide in Edith's skirt, but she kept pulling him just a little bit away as she spoke to the big black dragonborn. "Well now, if it's a cart you're needing, best to look at some of the draft beasts we're keeping. I've got just the one for you." She led them back to a stall with a grey draft horse, as tall as Edith at the shoulder. Which meant Luc came up to the horse's shins, and her hooves were bigger than his chest.

"Got a bit of smoke in her lungs a few months ago, so she's not out working the fields with the rest of my lot. But Beauty's one of my best girls, steady as they go. She'll take you to the ends of the earth, you treat her right." 

"Steady is just what we need," Edith said, and glanced down at him. "Right, Luc?" 

He didn't know--just nodded, and flinched back when the dragonborn lady knelt down in front of him. 

"No need to be scared," she said in her low, gravelly voice. "I know, she's much bigger than you, but she's still friendly see." She held out a big scaly hand, and the horse lowered her head to sniff at it hopefully. Luc did _not_ flinch when Beauty turned to sniff at him, even though her head was almost a long as he was tall. Carefully, he stretched out a hand--touched her nose and then snatched it back when she snorted. 

The dragonborn lady chuckled. "Want to feed her some carrots?" she asked. 

Luc shook his head...then changed his mind, and nodded. Edith nudged him with her foot, so he also said, "Yes please," in his smallest, quietest voice. 

The horse keeper laughed again, and went to get some treats for Beauty. While she was gone, Luc tugged on Edith's hand so that the old woman looked down at him in surprise. "Can we name her Bucephalus?" he whispered. Not that Beauty wasn't a good name, but it wasn't _big_ enough. Daddy had told him stories about famous heroes, and some of those famous heroes had famous horses. Like General Aleksander, who'd been a great fighter of the Julous Dominion. 

"I think we could call her that, if you like," Edith said thoughtfully. Then she leaned in and winked. "Maybe don't tell Dumas, though." 

Luc smiled back at her, and then he got to feed their new horse three carrots.


End file.
